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Red Bull build giant version of boy’s bedroom in awesome Danny MacAskill biking stunt!

By Mel Peck

June 27, 2013 | 5 min read

The Red Bull name has become synonymous with extreme sports and high-octane stunts and this week Danny MacAskill has topped the viral chart in another adrenaline-fueled video for the brand.

The cyclist, who first shot to fame after publishing footage of his bike stunts on YouTube back in 2009, has released a new short film showing him performing acrobatic stunts on giant versions of his old childhood toys; from comic books, to army tanks and decks of cards. He makes it look easy but the 7 minute long video was actually over 2 years in the making, with the shoot itself taking about 17 months and some stunts being performed over 300 times!

Scarcely more than a week has gone by this year when we haven’t seen some form of Red Bull content trending in the viral chart. It’s hard to imagine how the brand could top last year’s Stratos Jump, but the success of the project and the subsequent videos produced by the Red Bull Media House underlines a broad cultural shift in viral marketing strategies, where brands are starting to focus on the overall curation of a story and a lifestyle rather than direct product promotion.Like most of Red Bull’s online video content, this latest ad contains no direct reference to the soft drink itself, (with the exception of logos on MacAskill’s helmet and a quick shot of him sipping the drink at the end of the film). The emphasis is on associating the brand with adventure, showcasing the kind of talent that viewers aspire to and creating something remarkable that people want to share.This form of branded content marketing isn’t new but it’s certainly becoming an increasingly popular strategy for advertisers looking to raise brand awareness. The Red Bull Media House has become an umbrella for a massive print, television, online and feature-film production company, that also just happens to sell the world’s most popular energy drink.

Also trending this week, ‘Magician Impossible’ Dynamo teamed up with Pepsi in an awesome little publicity stunt that left puzzled onlookers in London scratching their heads in amazement as he appeared to levitate alongside a double decker bus. I actually watched it more than once trying to figure out what the hell was going on and I’m still none the wiser. But with over a million views in 2 days the video's got just the right hooks to get people talking.

The DRUM UGC Chart – Every now and again a song comes along that the interweb just goes crazy for and it’s always fun to see the string of covers, tributes, mashups and general weird s*** that YouTubers end up doing with it. Daft Punk’s hit single, ‘Get Lucky’, has been trending in the UGC chart for weeks now, we’ve seen The Evolution of Music, a retro instructional video on How to Dance Properly and even a Vintage Irish Tenor cover. Now even Barack Obama is having a sing along, topping todays listing with nearly 4 million views in 2 days.

Also trending this week; Zefrank1 uses jelly beans to measure how much time we have in the world; time lapse footage of the Manchester Museum supposedly captures a haunted figurine when the statue mysteriously starts to spin; and my personal favourite - waterbending in real life, (I have a couple of weeks holiday coming up and this is definitely on my things to have a go of list!)

For all of the chart news and the full run down of the most shared online videos this week, check out The Drum Viral Video Chart, powered VAN, or follow @JoinVan to stay up to date with the latest industry news and YouTube gossip.JOIN THE VIRAL CHART MAILING LIST FOR WEEKLY UPDATES ON TOP TRENDING VIDEOS!

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